City Lights Bookstransfers@onixsuite.com20150331engCOM.ONIXSUITE.97808728655560301City Lights Books020872865556039780872865556159780872865556BC01The Historic Unfulfilled PromiseTheHistoric Unfulfilled Promise01GCOI872861002390701A01Howard ZinnZinn, HowardHowardZinn<p>Howard Zinn (1922 –2010) was raised in a working-class family in Brooklyn, and flew bombing missions for the United States in World War II, an experience he now points to in shaping his opposition to war. Under the GI Bill he went to college and received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. In 1956, he became a professor at Spelman College in Atlanta, a school for black women, where he soon became involved in the civil rights movement, which he participated in as an adviser to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and chronicled, in his book <em>SNCC: The New Abolitionists</em>. Zinn collaborated with historian Staughton Lynd and mentored a young student named Alice Walker. When he was fired in 1963 for insubordination related to his protest work, he moved to Boston University, where he became a leading critic of the Vietnam War.<br />
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In his liftetime, Zinn received the Thomas Merton Award, the Eugene V. Debs Award, the Upton Sinclair Award, and the Lannan Literary Award. He is perhaps best known for <em>A People's History of the United States</em>. City Lights previously published his essay collection <em>A Power Governments Cannot Suppress</em>. We feel lucky and proud to have known and worked with him, and are honored to bring <em>The Historic Unfulfilled Promise</em> to a wide readership.</p>01eng02eng256002560324Internet CL HierarchyPolitics03<p>
Howard Zinn's life and work are the stuff of legend. His <em>People's History of the United States</em> has sold over 2 million copies and has altered how we see and teach history. A hero in word and deed, Zinn's views on freedom, fairness, history, democracy, and our own human potential are educational and transformative. In few places is the genius of his voice more crystalized and accessible than in the dozens of articles he penned for <em>The Progressive</em> magazine from 1980 to 2009, offered together here in book form for the first time. Whether critiquing the Obama White House, the sorry state of US government and politics, the tragic futility of US military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, or the plight of working people in an economy rigged to benefit the rich and powerful,</p>
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Zinn's historical clarity, unflappable optimism, and unshakable questions reverberate throughout <em>The Historic Unfulfilled Promise</em>: "Have our political leaders gone mad?" "What kind of country do we want to live in?" "What is national security?" "Do we have a right to occupy a country when the people of that country obviously do not want us there?" "Is not war itself terrorism?" "Should we not begin to consider all children, everywhere, as our own?" "Has the will of the people been followed?" <em>The Historic Unfulfilled Promise</em> is a genuine work of conscience, rich in ideas, charged with energy; an invaluable introduction for the uninitiated and a must-have for Zinn's fans.</p>
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"Passionate, iconoclastic, and wrly humorous . . . [Zinn] sometimes proves astounding in his almost clairvoyant analysis."<strong>—<em>Publisher's Weekly</em> Starred Review</strong></p>
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"A sharp and insightful collection from one of the country's most visible historians and critics."<em><strong>—Booklist</strong></em></p>
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"A useful introduction to one of America's great scholar-activists."<strong>—</strong><em><strong><strong>K</strong>irkus Reviews</strong></em></p>
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"Howard Zinn's life and work are an unforgettable model, sure to leave a permanent stamp on how history is understood and how a decent and honorable life should be lived."<strong>—Noam Chomsky</strong></p>
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"Proudly, unabashedly radical . . . Mr. Zinn delighted in debating ideological foes, not the least his own college president, and in lancing what he considered platitudes, not the least that American history was a heroic march toward democracy."<em><strong>—New York Times</strong></em></p>
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"For Howard, democracy was one big public fight and everyone should plunge into it. That's the only way, he said, for everyday folks to get justic—by fighting for it."<strong>—Bill Moyers</strong></p>02First-ever collection of Howard Zinn's articles from <i>The Progressive </i> (1980–2009) offer timeless analysis and advocacy for freedom, democracy, and social change in the United States.0701http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-87286-555-6Starred Review from Publishers Weekly08<p>
"This posthumous collection of Zinn's passionate, iconoclastic, and wryly humorous articles from the <em>Progressive</em> magazine spans 30 years—from 1980 to 2010—though most are of 21st-century vintage. Zinn argues repeatedly for an alternative to war, totalitarianism, and redistribution of resources and energy away from the military and 'toward ideals of egalitarianism, community, and self-determination... which have been the historic, unfulfilled promise of the word democracy.' Zinn persists with his optimism and sometimes proves astounding in his almost clairvoyant analysis, as the essays progress from Boston University student and faculty protests against the Vietnam War and the academic "Establishment" through the two Iraq wars, to Obama's expansion of the war in Afghanistan. In addition, Zinn writes of his own youth and radicalization, and his admiration for artists who "wage the battle of justice in a sphere which is unreachable by the dullness of ordinary political discourse," including a warm and perceptive memorial to Kurt Vonnegut, with whom he became friends late in life, and with whom he shared a conversion to pacifism after serving in WWII. His call to action will strike a chord with a younger generation of occupiers."</p>Starred Review from Publishers Weekly0701http://www.booklistonline.com/Default.aspxBooklist08<p>
"Historian and social activist Zinn, who died in 2010, was known for his often controversial views on politics, civil rights, and history. These essays, originally published in <em>The Progressive</em>, were written between 1980 and 2010 and spotlight his plain-speaking writing and keen analytic eye. Readers familiar with Zinn's writings, especially his widely read <em>A People's History of the United States</em> (1980), will note his usual unflinching approach to his subject matter and his apparent lack of regard for potential criticisms of his ideas. Similarly, both Zinn's critics and his fans (there are many of both) will not see any appreciable watering-down of his often contentious views on democracy and war, the two subjects most abundantly represented here. But here there is also an opportunity to see a side of Zinn that was often kept private. His 2007 essay, "Remembering Kurt Vonnegut," for example, eulogizes the acclaimed novelist with a rather touching personal statement of Zinn’s own affection for him. A sharp and insightful collection from one of the country’s most visible historians and critics."</p>
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— David Pitt</p>Booklist0701http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2012/raskin160812.htmlMR Zine08<p>
"Howard Zinn was called a lot of different names: anarchist, socialist, and communist. He called himself a lot of different names, too: anarchist, socialist, and communist. No one ever seems to have called him Zen, but maybe it's time to start . . . <em>The Historic Unfulfilled Promise </em>is a testament to Zinn's Zen politics: his refusal to be silent, to acquiesce, or to sever his ties with the downtrodden."</p>
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—Jonah Raskin</p>MR Zine2301http://www.citylights.com/resources/titles/87286100239070/extras/HistoricExcerptCL.pdf04037201http://www.citylights.com/resources/titles/87286100239070/images/9780872865556L.jpg07037201http://www.citylights.com/resources/titles/87286100239070/images/9780872865556S.jpg230401http://www.citylights.com/resources/titles/87286100239070/extras/HistoricExcerptCL.pdf080201http://www.citylights.com/resources/persons/4908.gif02http://www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=87286100239070City Lights Publishers01City Lights Publishers04201206010816oz